It was supposed to descend at about 6ft/sec, but the damn parachute didn't deploy. Some **** I coulda made out of bedsheets woulda done the trick, but nope. Another $260 million NASA project down the ****ter.

Well all i can say is this was an absolute dumb *** plan from the start to retrieve this. Lockheed Martin has made more space exploration satellites and landers than anyone and we would never design into a plan the use of Stunt men in a helicopter to grab the thing out of the air. What a rinky dink plan. This plan most of been developed by the NASA and the Cartoon network chief engineer Wiley Coyote !!!!!!!!

OH hell we did build it. Dammitt we must have used some of Disney's Engineers

[QUOTE]The spacecraft was designed and built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems (search) near Denver. Robert Corwin, an engineer for the company, said a battery that overheated shortly after the 2001 launch could be a culprit

They were saying that the plates that had collected particles probably would have shattered with impact, even if the parachute had been deployed. So they were planning on gently snatching this thing from the sky as it descended at 6ft/sec?

They were saying that the plates that had collected particles probably would have shattered with impact, even if the parachute had been deployed. So they were planning on gently snatching this thing from the sky as it descended at 6ft/sec?

yes but the fact is Somebody paid LM to build it and they got cheap. In most cases they would have got the Airforce or any of the military branches to recover this thing not some Hollywood Stunt men BY GOD !!!